Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I am really excited about a new program that's just getting started. It's called AgriTrue and it's designed specifically for small, local, sustainable producers and their consumers. The whole idea is introduce a free market system without a bunch of redtape that will give consumers meaningful information. Right now anyone can slap "all natural" on a product and free range chickens may never actually see sunlight. Organic designation means that the farmer has done a lot of paperwork and little else.

So, I welcome the concept of AgriTrue. Here's how it will work. I have chicken, eggs, and produce for sale. I meet AgriTrue's basic standards, so I register myself on their website, with details on how I produce things and photos of my operation. You can hit the website at your leisure or I can post a copy of my certificate with a QR code in farmer's market booth or at my roadside stand. You, the consumer, gets to know that I've met some minimum standards and you can see exactly how organic, sustainable, etc., my operation is. I as the producer get free publicity on the site, and I can get a meaningful certification without spending hours and hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Here are the minimum standards (they're still a work in progress) from the AgriTrue FAQ:

The producer must guarantee that they do not use genetically modified seeds.

What are the minimum standards for plant based foods under the AgriTrue name?

The producer must guarantee that they do not use chemical herbicides.

The producer must guarantee that they do not use chemical pesticides.

The producer must utilize methods that improve soil quality from year to year and do not rely solely on chemical fertilizers.

No more than 30 percent of the land or space under cultivation can be dedicated to any single crop variety.

At least 10 percent of the land under cultivation must be planted with non food crops that provide predator habitat and/or allow for the production of organic matter for soil building.

What are the minimum standards for animal based foods under the AgriTrue name?

Animals must be treated ethically. Specific guidelines for individual species are forth coming but all animals must have access to fresh air, quality feed, reasonable space, fresh water and decent living conditions.

Animals may not be given antibiotics for preventative purposes, only for acute conditions that warrant antibiotic treatment. Such animals may not be used for production of any food for 21 days after completion of an antibiotic regime.

At least 20% of the animals feed must be produced on site, this can be via pasture feeding, harvesting feed for the animals, etc.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in learning about (and even helping design), visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/agritrue.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Life on the homestead is generally a fun, rewarding, and often maddening experience. It's amazing to be an integral part of the cycle of life going on around you; to know that the food you are putting on the table comes from a developing balanced ecosystem (aka permaculture). Also, the knowledge that our animals are raised humanely, in the manner God designed them, is a huge blessing. Not only is it better for the environment and better for the animals, but the food is more nutritious as well.

But, it's not always sunshine and laughter. I was speaking to a colleague at work who is almost a vegetarian because she just doesn't like the idea of something having to die so she can eat. Death is always a part of life. The minerals in your vegetables come from the soil and the soil largely gets it from dead animals. Accepting that is part of living on a farm. But, it isn't always easy.....

Buddy's Story

I was out in the garden Thursday morning and got a call on my cell phone. (I was using its iPod to listen to The Survival Podcast while I was out there.) It was a post office about 50 miles from our house. "We have your chicks. Where is <my hometown>?" When the post office doesn't even know where you are, that's a pretty bad sign.

I told them roughly where we lived and they hatched a scheme to pass the chicks off from post office to post office to get them to our town. To me this sounded like a bad idea. In and out of the A/C; truck to truck, handler to handler. It sound like a recipe for sick chicks. So, I piled the kids into the Suburban and off we drove to get them. The post office had them for about and hour and a half from the time the called me to the time I picked them up. In that time, 2 Barred Rock pullets succumbed to the cool temps in the climate controlled post office.

Healthy chicks: to the front is a Rhode Island
Red cockerel, left a Barred Rock pullet, the
others are Rhode Island Red pullets

Another hour and a half and we were home. The chicks still living were moved into their brooder, but we noticed that one of the Rhode Island Red pullets was having trouble standing. We decided to brood the bunch inside with our little sick one treated for splayed legs and in her own "hospital box" inside the larger brooder. (The treatment for splayed legs involves using a band-aid or first aid tape to hobble the legs and bring them under the chick so they can develop the muscle tone to stand normally, if you want more info, comment below and I'll help you out.) She did well the first day, drinking her sugar water, taking some honey off my finger and eating some. By day two she was trying to stand, but still having trouble. She seemed determined to douse herself in her water dish at every opportunity, so we spent a lot of time holding her near the brooder lamp so she'd stay warm enough. She was noticeably smaller than her brothers and sisters. My older son named her his "sick little buddy." So, Buddy she became.

This morning she was still alert but unable to stand. Thinking that she was likely vitamin deficient at this point, we fed her some more honey and ran out to the feed store and got her some nutri-drench. My daughter stayed home to rescue her from her tendency to wet herself and get chilled. When we got home, she was much the same. My husband picked her up to examine her and noticed she had worn the skin off her knee standing on it and her bone was exposed. The knee was totally dislocated and there was no sign of the attendant tendons.

So, we decided to put her down. When you've spent so much energy keeping an animal alive, it's never easy doing what needs to be done. But, death is always a part of life and little Buddy will become soil soon, to nourish life anew.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

I've been envying my neighbor's sweet corn. It's tall and a beautiful green and just looks yummy. All the stalks are the same height and it just looks beautiful. Your typical chemically fertilized corn. My corn is a little different in height, not a deep green, and not incredibly beautiful. Since we've been on vacation it's also very weedy (working on that, promise). Boy, did I wish that corn was mine, chemicals and all.

At least, that was the way things looked YESTERDAY. Last night we had a huge storm with tons of wind. Now my neighbor's corn is a beautiful deep green pile of leaves. My corn however, is still standing. Just goes to show you that even when the grass is greener, that doesn't mean it's better.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

I've been thinking this week about abortion. As a child born post Roe v. Wade to an unwed immigrant mother who put her up for adoption, I've been pro-life ever since I knew pro-life existed. My husband was adopted. My grandmother was adopted. My brother was adopted. My best friend in high school was adopted. We all have different stories, but a common thread--any of us could have been killed before we'd been given an true chance at living. Unwed mothers, immigrants, college students with bright futures, drug and alcohol abuse, potential physical deformities, birth defects, a mother who died giving birth, unwanted pregnancy, abuse, poverty; we run the gambit of all the "good" reasons to abort. And yet, every one of us is ALIVE. In every case our biological mothers chose to have us, and every one of us is pretty darn thankful for that. So, pro-life for me is part of my very existence and the existence of many of the people I care the most about. I take arguments in favor of abortion as a personal affront--because what these people are saying is that we SHOULDN'T BE HERE. With the stroke of a "clever" argument meant to inspire compassion for women, my existence is negated. While compassion for women is difficult circumstances is the duty of every Christian, nay, every humane person, compassion for the child is just as important, in some cases more so.

I am the face of abortion.

﻿﻿

But recently I've thought about how we throw that word around. "Abort" "Abortion" Even pro-choice advocates use the words all the time. Familiarity breeds contempt. When's the last time you really thought about what these words mean? The World English Dictionary defines abort as:

— vb

1. to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable

2. ( tr ) to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable
﻿﻿

3. ( intr ) to fail to come to completion; go wrong

﻿﻿

4. ( tr ) to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned

5. ( intr ) to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus

6. (of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely

7. ( intr ) (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

— n

8. the premature termination or failure of (a space flight, military operation, etc)

In addition to the common definitions we think of, abort also means, "to fail to come to completion; go wrong," "to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned," "to fail or terminate prematurely," "to fail to develop into the mature form," and "the premature termination or failure of." Even the very word abort should bring to mind the tragic snuffing of a real person. Because we bandy the word about in political efforts we, in my opinion, cloud these definitions with a convenient short-hand that lets abortionists off the hook.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

How many young people today even understand what the word means? It's not some ivory tower description of a simple medical procedure. It's the ending of something special, something magical, something good and blessed. And I weep for those who unwitting support it without ever coming to that realization.

Friday, July 8, 2011

We're big believers in personal security here at the farm. So, when we go on vacation, I just sort of drop off the map rather than annoucing to the world, "Hey, come rob me and vandalize my yard!" We've been back from the 5th and I've a lot of things to post about. Once I get them all straightened out in my head I'll post about them. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

A suburban Detroit family is being prosecuted persecuted for daring to have their vegetables in the front yard. This is why I will never live in the city. They don't allow clothes lines anywhere on the property either. With all the problems the city has, you'd think people would have bigger fish to fry.

Monday, June 13, 2011

I won't lie, what these people did scares the dickens out of me. Would I do it in their situation? I'd like to think so, but it's so much easier to sit here in defiance behind my keyboard. Remember, all it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing.

Friday night we had a line of particularly nasty storms roll through. This is the first really bad one that has hit us this year, and we lost power. We have either a power outage or a propane outage about once a year. We used to lose power every time the winds got over 30 mph (which is a lot here), but the power company put in a new substation down the road from us and this is the first time we've lost power since they did that.

Last year we bought a propane tank rather than lease, and we had to wait for it to be installed for about 5 weeks after we emptied the old tank (we have an in-ground tank). When I was a teenager, an ice storm came through and we didn't have power for 2 weeks. Outages of a day or two were pretty common for us a couple years ago. So, I have a lot of experience living creatively when basic utilities aren't available. When we have no electric, we have no oven and no water. When we have no propane with have no stove, no hot water, and no central heat.

Generally, when a really bad storm is coming up I store water. Of course, I wasn't paying attention when this storm came up and didn't purposefully store any water. I had made strawberry jam and hadn't dumped the water out of the canner yet, so I was able to wash dishes from dinner. That got me thinking--maybe I should share what we keep for the event of an outage.

Prepare for a power outage

If you live out in the country, a power outage isn't just no A/C and lights. It means no water, too. We have a well, and I love not having a water bill, but we have to use electric from the house to pump our water. I've thought of installing an outside hand pump, but it would mean widening the well (which is about 200 feet deep), so that's pretty expensive. I plan on installing solar when we build the sheepshed. So, you've got to be ready for no water, no sanitation, no lights, no refrigeration, no heat, and potentially no way to cook.

The first main step to preparation is to assess your needs. How many people live in your home? Do any of them have special needs, such as babies, the handicapped, or the elderly? Think of things like needing to heat bottles, charge wheelchair batteries, generate oxygen, etc. I'm going to assume that everyone in your household has no special needs and that if you have a baby, you are nursing and not using cloth diapers. If you're outside that, plan accordingly.

Then, there are the farm-specific preparation considerations. How many and what type of animals do you have? Do you have young or pregnant animals that need special care? What point are you at in your farm's process cycle? Think of things like brooding, shearing, lambing, calving, etc. Butchering could also be a consideration, but generally that's something that can be moved back a bit if necessary. Do you have produce that's ready to process for food preservation? Is it planting time?

As part of this assessment, look at your assets. Do you have a fireplace? A gas oven? A woodstove? A grill? A fire pit? Rain barrels? Any of these can be useful in an outage. If you are building, remodeling, or buying new appliances take these things into consideration.

Finally, the preparation will look different depending on the time of year. What's important in the winter and the summer are completely different. In the winter I recommend preparing for a minimum of one week and in the summer a minimum of 1 day. It's much more likely in the winter that you will be snowed or iced in and unable to travel to town for supplies.

Prepare for a propane or natural gas outage

In many ways, this one is easier. You'll still have your fridge and your well in operation. The three biggest considerations here are cooking, bathing, and heat. This is also the less likely scenario (unless you forget to track your propane tank level or experience a major financial setback that prevents you from getting your next fill). If you are on natural gas lines, you could experience an outage similar to an electric outage, but most of us country living types are too far out for that. So, this one is one to be aware of, but I'd put preparing for it below preparing for an electric outage. Most of your electric preparations will apply here as well.

Our list

Here's what we keep on hand at all times, it represents at least one day's worth of supplies for our family of five. We generally have more than this, but this is the minimum we don't let ourselves get down past.

A five gallon military water can, treated with bleach (4 drops from an eye dropper per gallon). We change this out every 6 months and it sits in the laundry room.

Our animals' waterers are filled daily with at least 2 days worth of water.

4 oil lamps, 5 charged flashlights, 2 candle lanterns, 1/2 gallon lamp oil, 6 candles, 12 tea lights, 4 extra lamp wicks. I recommend getting your oil lamps from Lehman's. I specifically recommend this model. It puts out at least as much light as a 60 watt light bulb. Tea lights are nice for bathrooms because they are small enough to sit on a sink and are self-contained. (Remember to keep an eye on any open flame, especially if you have children or pets.)

1/4 cord wood (can be used in our fireplace or fire pit). We keep this much wood at all times, even in the summer.

A tea kettle, for heating small amounts of water quickly.

A boiling water bath canner, for heating large amounts of water for dishes, laundry, bathing, etc.

A gallon of bleach for sanitation.

Fireplace matches, for lighting fires/stove and for transferring flame from lamp to lamp.

Cast iron skillets and dutch ovens. A fire grate.

A plastic container of cleaning wipes.

A plastic container of hand sanitizer (be aware that hand sanitizer kills the beneficial bacteria on your skin along with germs, so use sparingly).

Games, books, and craft projects that don't require power.

A cooler and a full ice bin in the freezer.

An AC adapter for the car (allows charging of phones and laptops).

A list of locations that sell dry ice.

A battery powered radio that gets weather bands.

I recommend preparing for mid (1-2 weeks), long (over 2 weeks), and extremely long (like months) term outages as well. Our long-term goal is to be able to live completely off -grid. At our current level of preparation, we are prepared for outages in the 2 week range. Our main issues are water and food preservation. The next thing we intend to do is install rain barrels to catch run off from the house. That will take care of most of our needs for around a month, but that would not be potable water, so we would need to purify it for cooking and drinking. We would also need to can, smoke or dehydrate all our frozen food if we were in a long term outage, but that's doable, even over a fire. I did all my canning last year during our no-propane time and was able to safely can with both a pressure and water bath canner over a fire.

Which brings me to my last suggestion. Whatever your plan is, test it. Tell the kids you are going to have a "pioneer adventure night." (Or whatever gets them excited.) What skills do you need? Can you bake in a dutch oven? Do you know how to heat water and sanitize dishes? Can you brew coffee without your coffee maker? Can you water your garden without waste? Can your kids cope without their electronics? Better to find out the gaps in your plan now than when you are in a stressful situation or really depending on it.

Friday, June 10, 2011

The CDC is reporting an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened at least 39 people in 12 states. It appears as though the outbreak can be traced to a single mail order company, but chicks from this company are sold through at least one feed store chain. They aren't currently identifying the company or the chain, so if you've purchased any chicks this year, please be careful. Here are some basic safety tips for handling chickens (and any livestock for that matter):

Always handle the youngest birds first. Young birds have an immature immune system and can be sickened by diseases from an older bird.

Avoid eating, drinking, smoking, or touching your hands to your face while working with your birds.

Never nuzzle or kiss your birds.

Wash your hands with soap and water (or use hand sanitizer) immediately after working with birds.

These rules apply whenever you are working with your birds, feeding or watering them, in their enclosure for any reason, working with manure that has not been composted at high temperature, or cleaning equipment used with them. The CDC also recommends that the very young (under 5 years old) and very elderly do not handle birds at all. In my experience this isn't a very realistic expectation with a backyard flock, but these groups are the most likely to get sick, and if they do become ill they are the most likely to experience severe complications, including hospitalization and death.

Please remember that salmonella can be transmitted to the egg, so eggs of infected chickens are likely to be contaminated, and chicks born to an infected chicken can also be carriers. Chickens can live normal an productive lives while carrying salmonella infections. Some possible signs of salmonella include:

Diarreha, lethargy, and/or going off their feed

Excessive thirst

Hatching eggs that develop normally for a few days, then suddenly die

When dead birds are examined, the liver, spleen, kidney, and heart can appear to have suffered damage

Remember, in chickens, it is possible for salmonella to be present with no outward indications

If you suspect salmonella in your flock, tests are available. I would recommend contacting your local veterinarian for more information.

One parting thought--Remember not to wash your eggs unless they are excessively dirty. If you do wash them, use them right away. Eggs have a protective bloom on them that keeps the potential little one inside safe from outside diseases. Washing removes this bloom and can force bacteria through the porous shell.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Went out to feed the chickens today and they were completely out of food again! Mary only half filled their feeder yesterday morning. Looks like I'm going to have to go to filling it every day. There are 33 growing birds right now, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But still, I mean, wow. They are going through about 7 lbs of food a day, on top of what they are foraging. I may have to move into grinding my own feed sooner than I thought.

I'm going to take a minute here and look at the costs of chicken raising, now that I know what little piggies they are. At $12-$14 for a 50 lb bag, that seems like a lot of money to put into chicken. I've got 3-5 weeks before they are big enough to butcher. Doing the math, that's $2-3 in feed per chicken, so I guess it's not terrible. I got them for about $2 each, so I'm looking at about $5 for a broiler/fryer that will weigh out butchered at about 4-5 lbs. A dollar a pound for free range, antibiotic-free meat is a bargain.

I didn't include here the cost of the range shelter, equipment, or the fencing. We actually built the range shelter from scrap wood we had and left over shingles and tar paper from fixing our roof. So, the only cost there was $5 in paint. The fence right around their enclosure was also built at no cost because we used left over fence posts and poultry netting from when we had ducks, and left over tent stakes from some old tents to stake the fence down. We did buy the electric poultry netting, that cost $140. The solar energizer, wire, ground rod, and incidentals cost about $200. For feeders, waterers and brooders we spent about $60. So, the total cost there was about $400. We had a real problem with our ducks roaming the neighborhood and we have very brave skunks, so I didn't want to take any chances. We are going to keep chickens for eggs though. The useful life of the equipment and fencing we bought should be about 10 years, so that amortises out to $40 per year. Once we start laying, I'll calculate that cost into the eggs, as well as the cost of the chicken coop when we get it built.

You could do it much more cheaply. My sister in law kept her chickens in her fenced in back yard and bought a prefab coop for about $200 I believe. If you were only keeping meat birds and had a fenced yard, you could get by with just the feeders, waterers, brooder, and a place for them to get in out of the sun and rain (a tarp or an old dog house would even work.) A word the wise here--if you raise Cornish X of some type (we don't) they will need a roost and they will generate a huge pile of droppings where ever it is. Cornish X are hybridized meat birds that can get to 6 lb butchering weight in as little as 6 weeks, but all they do is convert feed to meat. That means they sit around and poop. A lot.

My husband is currently in the process of networking with some people to try to land a dream job. Please pray for God's will to be done, and if you want to put in a word for His will to be that he get the job, that would be cool too.

Okay, first, I am *not* an early riser by nature. 10am is a great time to get up as far as I'm concerned. And, I'm married to a night owl who goes to bed at midnight or later on a work night. So, getting up early is not easy for me. I made the effort this morning because I still had some things that weren't planted and didn't feel like doing my outside chores in the forecasted 100 degree heat.

So, I was up at 6:30 this morning (hush those of you who think this is not early). I had my coffee and read a wonderful devotional in The Word Among Us. Today's New Testament Reading is Acts 20:28-38. St. Paul is leaving Ephesus after a 3 year ministry there. The devotional reading focuses on Paul's care for the weak in the Church there. Here's an excerpt:

Every community, every congregation, even every family has its own "weak" members.... These are the ones Paul singled out for special attention, for he knew the fundamental precept that those who are more graced should care for those who are in need--not take advantage of them or ignore them.

Such a philosophy goes against our human nature. Those who move quickly find it irritating to slow down for those who lag behind. It can be hard for someone with a quick mind to have to explain things to someone who just doesn't et it. Instead of puttin ourselves in their shoes, we tend to imagin them in ours: "If that happened to me, I would surely have handled it better." But when we do this, we exercise the judgment that belongs to God and fail to extend his mercy--a mercy that belongs to the strong and weak alike.

This could have been written about me. It has to be hard having me for a mom. I just pray that God will help me to show mercy to my children and encourage them, even, perhaps especially, when they do the same dumb thing for the 9,000th time.

Speaking of which, did you know that an electric fence is pretty ineffective at keeping in starving chickens? I had the kids feed and water the chickens yesterday and, well, let's just say it's a good thing they don't do it every day. I went outside to see 2/3 of the babies and all of the pullets (who should not be able to fit) had squeezed through the electric poultry netting and were foraging in our side yard. So, I spread some feed out on the ground and woke my 13 year old (14 tomorrow) daughter to come out and watch them as they ate, and fill their food and water properly. I, by the grace of God, did this without yelling or getting snarky once. And, you know what? I think she learned the lesson of how to care for them properly better for it.

Oh--and a bonus--they all went back inside the fence with no complaints or stragglers. That is truly a miracle.

This is the new herb garden at the front of the house. The front of the bed will have flowers as a border for this year. Planted here are parsley, dill, rosemary, scented geranium, wormwood, catnip, spearmint, peppermint, thyme, and true oregano. I left plenty of space for the mints and catnip to expand. That area doesn't have landscape fabric down, but the rest of the garden does. I'm hoping this helps to keep them contained, since mints spread everywhere once they get started.

I actually had to replant the catnip because the cats ate the original plant before it could establish. It now has a cage around it made of chicken wire in hopes of keeping them from destroying it.

We have another herb and flower garden on the otherside of the house, but it is so weedy it makes me cry. Once I clean it up I will post it.

The Fruit Orchard

This is the fruit orchard, still really small. It's at the front of the property to do triple duty. We live on a gravel road that gets *extremely* dusty. (As in I can have a 1/8 inch coating of dust on my dining room table in an hour. As in we generate our own smoke screen when we mow within 50 feet of the road.) so, the plan is for it to help screen the house from the road and help keep the dust that reaches the house down.

The two trees that need the grass cut around them are Granny Smith apples that we planted a few years ago. This is the first year they have fruited and we have 4 apples. They need a little pruning, but next year I hope they will start to have a significant yield. The tree on the far right is a new Northern Spy apple tree we just purchased. The two trees to the front are plum trees. They have as much fruit on them as the established apple trees, even though we just planted them!

The Vegetable Garden

I had the kids stand in the garden for perspective. My daughter is actually almost 6 feet tall. We're in the process of putting down cardboard and newspaper between the rows as mulch. Our land was commercially farmed for generations, so we are still building up the soil. You can see the compost pile there on the left.

So, here's what's planted, left to right:

One row of buckwheatOne row of alfalfaOne row with carrots and radishes in a wide bed, zucchini, and a few peppersOne row of peppers and cilantro3 rows of tomatoes intermixed with basil (romas, cherry, heirloom mix, and a couple of beefsteaks3 rows of Kentucky wonder beansOne row of cabbage and garlic (red and white cabbage and garlic does double duty to repel rabbits)One row of peas, lettuce, and onionsAnother row of just onionsA potato patch behind those three rows (russets, reds, and sweet potatoes)6 30' rows of corn to the front on the rightone row of slicing cucumbersone row of cantaloupesone row of pumpkinsone row of pickling cucumbersone row of butternut squashtwo rows of watermelon

Monday, June 6, 2011

I need to stop going to the garden center. I keep coming back with more stuff to plant. I got the new herb garden finished today and fully watered the entire vegetable garden in one day. Mark fixed the hose so the sprinkler actually gets water to it. I still need to plant the sweet potatoes, calendula, and the border flowers for the herb garden. It's supposed to be stupid hot tomorrow (I guess today now) so I'm going to be up with the sun and get it done. I also need to get the rest of the cardboard and newspaper down in between the garden rows so I have a prayer of keeping up with the weeding this year. I took some pictures and will post them tomorrow at some point.

I'll be moving the links and old blogs (and some new ones) over here in the next few days. Not sure how long that will take or when I will have time since I'm still in full-on planting mode for another day or two (dang monsoons).

So, after a several year hiatus to work outside (and inside with a crazy schedule) the home while homeschooling (not easy, trust me), Culloden House Farms is back. Here's a link to the old blog.

So, lots has happened since way back then. Or not much, depending on how you look at it. We've converted (I hate that word, I mean, I never wasn't a Christian, and it's not like Methodists are suddenly anathema) to Catholicism. I'm working from home full time on top of homeschooling and running a farm. We've gone from ducks to chickens.

We're still classically homeschooling. (After a brief foray into OHVA. Didn't work for the boys, but Mary is liking it and will continue, with some Classical "extra-curriculars" thrown in.) We still don't have sheep, but at least we are making motions in that direction. Still organic, still freedom-loving. I still use parentheses too much.